Switzerland votes to ban nearly all tobacco advertising
- Nearly 56 per cent of voters and 15 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons backed the near-total tobacco advertising ban
- Campaigners say lax advertising laws have stymied efforts to bring down smoking rates in the nation of 8.6 million people, where over a quarter of adults use tobacco products
Swiss nationals on Sunday voted to tighten their notoriously lax tobacco laws by banning virtually all advertising of the hazardous products, partial results showed.
Nearly 56 per cent of voters and 15 of Switzerland’s 26 cantons backed the near-total tobacco advertising ban, according to official results after all ballots had been tallied in 22 cantons.
“We are extremely happy,” said Stefanie De Borba of the Swiss League against Cancer, as the results became clear. “The people have understood that health is more important than economic interests.”
Switzerland lags far behind most wealthy nations in restricting tobacco advertising – a situation widely blamed on hefty lobbying by some of the world’s biggest tobacco companies headquartered in the country.
Currently, most tobacco advertising is legal at a national level, except for ads on television and radio, and ones that specifically target minors.
Some Swiss cantons have introduced stricter regional legislation and a new national law is pending but campaigners gathered enough signatures to spur a vote towards a significantly tighter countrywide law.
Opponents of the initiative, which include the Swiss government and parliament, had argued that it goes too far.